Himley fall short against Kidderminster

HIMLEY'S failure with the bat at the top of the order left them with too much to do as they looked to chase down Kidderminster's total.

Himley won the toss and decided to field, a decision that produced good early results. Kidderminster Victoria CC (KVCC) opened with Craig Wood and Andrew Kimberlin and they found runs hard to come by.

After eight overs they had only scored 14 runs, but lost a wicket. Wood (3) was caught by Greg Wright bowled Nick Harrison.

With the score on 22, a second wicket fell when Andrew Kimberlin was out lbw to Dan Smith. Harrison then claimed his second wicket just one run later when bowling Michael Hill for a single.

However, a good recovery from KVCC produced a stand of 82 between Neil Pinner and Zac Turley. Turley had scored 30 when he was caught and bowled by Michael Jones. He had struck three 4s and one six.

Connor Smith joined Pinner and they took the total up to 119, but Pinner, having scored a fine 52, was out leg before to Nathan Round. Andrew Siwicki was then caught and bowled by Round for a duck.

At 121-7 things did not look good for the home team with 35 of the allotted 50 overs bowled.

Skipper Jonathan Wright joined Smith and the score increased by 52 inside eight overs. Wright had scored 34 when he became the first of Ryan Brown’s three wickets. Wright was caught by Jones.

Connor Smith was the next to depart. He had batted patiently for an hour in scoring 29 before being stumped by Jack Whittaker to give Brown his second scalp.

Brown’s third wicket came when he had Richard Kimberlin caught by Whittaker for 11. The score now stood at 200-9 with three overs remaining. Gareth Williams was caught by Whittaker bowled Harrison for one, and Tom Kimberlin finished not out for two.

Himley started their chase in similar fashion to Kidderminster’s innings. By the 14th over the scorebook read 25-4.

The openers, Harris and Round, were soon parted when Round had to leave the field with a muscle injury. His replacement, Sandeep Dhillon, was out for a duck, leg before to Williams. Then Harris was bowled by Smith for one. Jones was next out, bowled Hill for eight, followed by Turner, who having also scored eight himself, was caught by Tom Kimberlin bowled Williams.

A stand of 56 brought Himley some relief, but it ended when Stuart Wedge, having scored 34 in one hour was caught by Williams bowled Wright.

Another stand, this time of 60 runs, took Himley's total up to 141-6. Nick Harrison had bowled well and showed he could bat. Having reached a superb 57, he was bowled by Richard Kimberlin. Kimberlin then turned into a match-winner as he bowled Brown for six and had Whittaker caught for 22.

Round returned to the wicket, obviously in pain. He was out for three when Hill had him caught by Wright. Kimberlin wrapped it up when Smith caught Greg Wright, who was also carrying an injury, for eight as they fell short by 32 runs.

Himley will now take on current league leaders WB Dartmouth at home this Saturday.